Judge keeps Ponzi defendant in jail

Randy Treadwell, the Isle of Hope resident charged in a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme, has now been accused of taking part in an international hostage ruse.

Treadwell allegedly tried to defraud a Florida businessman of $300,000 to secure the release of a Latin American official being held in Nigeria. There was no such hostage, federal officals say.

Treadwell had been free on bond after facing criminal charges for a scheme in which he raised an estimated $82 million. One of the conditions of his release was that he stop soliciting money from investors.

Federal officals say that's just what he did with the hostage scheme.

In Savannah's U.S. District courthouse Wednesday, Treadwell sat passively throughout the hearing, hunched forward in an orange McIntosh County Jail jump suit.

U.S. Magistrate Judge G.R. Smith found there was enough evidence to keep Treadwell in federal custody for bond violations.

As a shackled Treadwell shuffled out of the courtroom past about 10 family and friends, his eyes welled with tears.

He is scheduled to be flown to California Dec. 21, where he could remain incarcerated at least through the criminal trial.

Persuasive powers?

Wednesday's hearing stems from a five-count federal wire fraud indictment filed in San Diego. The U.S. attorney there accuses Treadwell and three others of running a sophisticated nationwide Ponzi scam, using new investor money to pay old investor returns.

He posted the $1.5 million bond Sept. 20.

A month later, U.S. Attorney Carol Lam claims Treadwell was back to his old ways, but with a new twist.

In documents made available this month, Lam claims that in late October a colleague of Treadwell's named Tom Rivera approached a retired Florida businessman named William Knipp.

Rivera, according to court records, told Knipp that he was a United Nations diplomat from a Latin American country, and needed money to secure the release of a high-ranking official taken hostage in Nigeria. He asked Knipp for $300,000.

Once the official was released to the United States, with access to "billions of dollars," he would repay Knipp the $300,000, plus add another $300,000 for his troubles, Rivera allegedly said.

Knipp didn't bite.

But a week later, according to documents, Rivera returned with Treadwell.

Treadwell, the documents claim, said he was an old friend of Rivera's who handles all of the investments for the Latin American country. He made the same pitch, but in more detail. He talked glowingly of Knipp's daughter, who cuts his hair.

Knipp says Treadwell's persuasive powers won him over.

Treadwell drafted a loan contract, identifying the borrower as "Christ Life Embassy Inc." and the guarantor as "Hallelujah Acres Trust."

U.S. Securities and Exchange officials, who have filed a separate civil lawsuit against Treadwell for securities violations, say that Treadwell, the son of a Jacksonville preacher, found many of his thousands of Ponzi investors through church networks.

Knipp and Rivera met at a Florida bank a week later to wire the money. Bank staffers pulled Knipp aside and told him he was likely being scammed.

The deal was called off, and Knipp contacted the FBI.

"Pattern of deception"

On Nov. 18, U.S. Judge Thomas Whelan issued a sealed warrant in San Diego for Treadwell's arrest.

On Dec. 1, a Liberty County sheriff's deputy said he caught Treadwell speeding on Interstate 95, pulled him over, and discovered the arrest warrant.

In court Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian McEvoy said during that stop Treadwell insisted the deputy speak with someone on his cell phone. The man on the other end of the line claimed to be the "chairman of the United Nations."

"Don't you know who you have in that car?" the man said, according to McEvoy. "This man has diplomatic immunity."

"It's just another of Treadwell's lies, part of a pattern of deception," McEvoy said.